The present invention concerns a method for preparation of soluble tea concentrates and powders, particularly tea powder and cold soluble tea concentrates which are sediment and "cream" free and thus suitable for use in iced beverages.
It has been customary hitherto to prepare cold soluble tea powders or sediment free concentrates suitable for use in iced beverages, by making hot water extracts of made tea or fermented tea leaves and cooling the same to a temperature of approximately 4.degree.-10.degree. C. to precipitate the cream which is then removed from the supernatant liquid. Alternatively, insoluble protein or other polyphenol adsorbants are added to the extracts in order to remove part of the oxidized polyphenols responsible for cream formation. The residual liquor is then concentrated to a syrup of desired consistency or dried to a powder.
These processes suffer from the disadvantage that the sediment free concentrate or dry powder yields a brew which does not reproduce the taste and strength associated with conventional black tea brew, because the cream or oxidized polyphenols removed in these processes are precisely the constituents which provide tea with its characteristic taste. Such teas are therefore described as "Flat".